Harjit Kaur was a Sikh grandmother who spent more than thirty years of her life in the United States, but who was accused of being denied food and medicine on detention and given a plate of ice instead of water when she requested medicine.
She said that she was wearing dentures and could not chew, and one US guard responded that it was her fault.
Her US-based lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, shared this information when he narrated the ordeal of the 73-year-old in an Instagram post.
Sikh Grandmother Alleges Inhumane Treatment by US ICE Before Deportation
When the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained her, Ahluwalia claimed that the old woman was handled by them in an unacceptable way. He claimed that Kaur spent 60-70 hours in custody without a bed and was even pushed to sleep on the floor yet she had undergone a double knee replacement procedure.
She did not get a bed and was forced to share a holding room. There was a concrete bench. She was sent to sleep in the floor using a blanket. She could not stand up when she would lie because she underwent a surgery to replace her knees twice.
Harjit Kaur Claims She Was Given Ice Instead of Water
Ahluwalia replied, “She would request some food so that she could take her drugs. Those requests were ignored. Not that she wasn’t fed at all. A cheese sandwich was given to her. She requested again to be given something to eat or even drink to take her medicine but was served a plate of ice. She said that she had dentures and was unable to eat them. Gard said to her, that it was her fault.
The lawyer said that Kaur even was denied a shower the whole time. On Monday (September 22) before the flight, she and a group of other detainees were given wet wipes and instructed to simply clean themselves and board the plane in Georgia to Armenia. She arrived in Delhi through an ICE chartered plane form Armenia, he said. And, thank God, they did not cuff her, a procedure that preceded it. One of the officers was apparently attempting to cuff her but another officer claimed it would not be prudent to do so given her age, he added.
Here I am attempting to convey the story of how a 73-years old grandmother, with no criminal background, was handled. And everybody can continue to say that she had an ultimate order of removal and she was requested to depart. This has been proposed by ICE in their response to media articles saying that she had exhausted all her appeal options. That’s correct. What is entirely wrong is that she did not want to go back home when her case was turned down or when no further appeal could be made, Ahluwalia said.
Harjay Kaur: ‘Better To Die’
When Harjat Kaur landed at New Delhi on Thursday after her deportation, she broke down narrating her ordeal. You are all so long there and then so suddenly you are arrested and thrown out. To live to die is better than to live and be subjected to this. In this case, it is not in order to live, she said, as the Times of India reported. Look at my feet, they are all swollen as dung cakes. I never received medicine nor can I walk.
Kaur was born in Pangota, Tarn Taran district of Punjab but she immigrated to the US with her two sons approximately 33 years ago when her husband passed away.
More than 20 years of her life she spent in San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked at a sari store in Berkeley until recently, when her health issues made her leave her job.
She was arrested on September 8 when she was conducting a routine check-in with immigration officials in San Francisco and transferred to the Mesa Verde detention centre in Bakersfield.
At approximately 2 am on September 10, Kaur was allegedly led away to Los Angeles in handcuffs and then flown to Georgia, Armenia, and in turn, New Delhi on an ICE chartered flight containing 132 other deportees.
TOI quotes Kaur saying that she was heartbroken that she could not even go home once to pack up her belongings. Even once I could never go back to clean up my possessions, which lay as I left them, she said. She has returned to Punjab now and is staying with her sister in Mohali.
Her deportation has not only ignited the Sikhs but also the immigrant rights activists in California. Based on news agency PTI, protesters organized demonstrations bearing placards that said Hands off our grandma, and Bring grandma home.
Her granddaughter Sukhdeep Kaur referred to her as an independent, selfless and a hardworking woman and her younger brother Kulwant Singh spoke out saying, it is sad how she has been deported. She is alienated. Now I and our family members will take care of her in Punjab.
Kaur added that she too empathised with the younger Punjabis who were being deported along with her. “They spent lakhs to go there. Others had been in detention between 10 months to 1 year and had gone back with no hands, she said.
Her counsel Ahluwalia has added that she will file another complaint on her treatment in custody and during deportation.
